Samsung Galaxy Buds Live

The bean-shaped Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are a serious departure from the norm in every single category. Their design is like nothing we’ve ever seen before; they’re the first true wireless earbuds from Samsung to include noise cancellation and they’re tuned to offer a heaping helping of bass.

The difference there is that the Buds Live have active noise cancellation while the Buds Plus use ambient noise reduction, and the Buds Plus have a longer built-in battery life but an overall lower one when you factor in the charging case.

Long story short, you should probably buy the Galaxy Buds Live over the Plus unless you plan on wearing your earbuds for 11 hours straight.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live come in three colors – black, white and bronze – and come with a matching charging case that’ll slip into your pocket. There’s a USB Type-C port on the back of the case for charging, or alternatively, you can also charge it wirelessly. An LED is present both inside and outside the case to let you know about the charging status of the case, as well as of the earbuds.

As for the buds themselves, Samsung has created something truly fun and unique here. Where other wireless earbuds manufacturers are still copying the design of Apple’s AirPods, Samsung’s design team is clearly at work to create something original.

Fitting them inside your ear requires you to push the speaker grille all the way inside the ear while the charging contacts sit in the upper part of the outer ear. When properly aligned, the Buds should be a near perfect fit – sealing the ear with a snug grip.

Of course, as we pointed out in our preview with the Buds Live, it’s not always a perfect fit. If you have large or especially small ears – or you plan on buying these for your kids – there’s a good chance the distance between the ear canal and the outer ear won’t be the right size to hold the Buds in place, meaning that they can easily pop out.

But even if they fit properly, there’s another problem: these buds come with an IPX2 water resistant rating which means they’re only good for slightly sweaty workouts or a light drizzle. Take them outside when it’s pouring, snowing or with you to the beach and, well, that could be the end of them.

Each of the buds also have touch sensors that can register a single, double, or triple tap that serves the expected actions of playing/pausing, as well as skipping tracks backwards/forwards. A tap and hold action is also available and is customizable for each bud separately – you can set it to increase/decrease the volume, launch Bixby or Spotify. Bixby obviously only works on Samsung phones and Spotify can only be launched on Android phones.